BNPSStories about a gold pocket watch from the Titanic, a chapel’s surprisingly valuable triptych painting and a giant mountain of waste dumped in a field were just some of this week’s popular reads.
We have picked five from the past seven days across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and Oxfordshire to keep you up to date.
Fly-tippers bury field in mountain of waste
Fly-tippers have dumped a mountain of waste in a field.
The “environmental catastrophe unfolding in plain sight” is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high.
The enormous pile appeared in a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington.
Calum Miller, Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, raised the issue in parliament, saying it was “threatening an environmental disaster”.
‘Big surprise’ as almshouse artwork valued at £3.5m
St Johns’ AlmshouseA triptych painting that was kept in an almshouse chapel has been valued at up to £3.5m by auctioneers.
St Johns’ Almshouse in Sherborne, Dorset, said it received the shock news after giving the altarpiece to Sotheby’s auction house for safekeeping during renovation work.
Experts identified it as the only surviving work of an unknown painter who was active in Brussels in the late 15th Century.
Heathrow rail link ‘would stop ridiculous routes’
Heathrow AirportSlough’s Labour MP Tan Dhesi has said a rail link between Reading and Heathrow Airport would help end “ridiculous” long-winded journeys.
The project, which would provide a link between the two with a stop in Slough, was put on hold indefinitely in 2020.
The UK’s biggest airport unveiled its £49bn expansion and modernisation plan in the summer and a potential third runway has been backed by the government.
A Heathrow spokesperson said it was “proud” of promoting sustainable travel to and from the airport, with 45% of journeys made by train, bus or tube.
Petting farm owner fined after hundreds fall ill
HSEA farm owner has been fined after visitors to a baby animal bottle-feeding event were infected with a parasite that causes vomiting and diarrhoea.
More than half of the 264 cases were children, some of whom were hospitalised, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.
The cryptosporidium outbreak originated from goat kids and lambs at Hazelgrove Farm near Ryde, Isle of Wight.
Sharon Wheeler was fined £8,000 and was ordered to pay a further £12,728 in fees.
Titanic passenger’s watch expected to fetch £1m
Getty ImagesA gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m ($1.3m) at auction.
Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel travelling from Southampton to New York sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912.
His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch that will go under the hammer on 22 November.
